**Author details**

*Goats (Capra) - From Ancient to Modern*

Occurrence of diseases is quite rarely observed in Changthangi goats. Most common problems are related to stunted and retarded growth. Sometimes, animals suffer from diarrhoea which due to parasitic and poisonous grasses. In goat kids, tapeworms, roundworms and coccidian infestation has also been observed sometimes. In big farms, vaccination is followed for FMD, pox and clostridial infection. Gid is a common incidence in Changthangi goats. Tick infestation is commonly found. Deworming with anthelmintics and dipping with some antiparasitic drugs two times a year is being followed in some of the organized farms. However, these medical activities are not so common among the poor small village farmers, which has resulted in comparatively higher mortality in the animals. Sometimes, genetic defects like cryptorchidism, stumpy ear,

short legs, prognathism and mixture of body colour is found in some animals.

*Changthangi goat* rearers usually build up the flocks from their own animals over the period of productive life of animal and cull old/unproductive and dispose surplus animals. The most important benefits from *Changthangi goat* rearing is in the form of pashmina, animal sales, changes in flock inventory, milk and manure. The returns obtained from pashmina forms the major chunk of gross returns in *Changthangi goats* (>40%) which is followed by the sale and value addition in kids. Goat rearing not only generates income for the people living under harsh cold climatic extremes, but also provides a livelihood as well as food security to the nomads (*Changpa*) in the form of milk and meat. Pashmina enterprise being profitable also possesses self-employment potential and if proper attention and care is taken, it will prove helpful in increasing the family welfare of down trodden nomads rearing the breed under miserable conditions [8].

Changthangi goats are mostly concentrated in Changthang sub-division (Nyoma and Durbuk blocks) of Ladakh which is also known as pashmina belt of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition non-descript goats and Changluk sheep are reared mainly for meat and milk in other parts of Leh. In this chapter information regarding birth weight, lactation period, calving period, age, kidding, yield of pashmina, disease

In India, pashmina is obtained from Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, Lahul and Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Kashi, Chamoli and Pithargarh districts of Uttaranchal. The pashmina obtained from Jammu and Kashmir is known as Changthangi pashmina whereas that obtained from HP and Uttaranchal is known as Chegu pashmina. Best quality pashmina is produced in Changthang region of Ladakh and is economic mainstay of nomadic people of Changthang.

Pashmina, as a valuable fibre being produced by Changthangi goat, should be marketed properly in order to help the farmers derive greater economic benefit.

**6. Economics of Changthangi goat rearing**

occurrence, marketing values, etc. is provided.

**5. Disease prevalence**

**7. Material and method**

**8. Discussion**

**9. Conclusion**

**106**

Akeel Bashir Beigh1 \* and Samina Bashir2

1 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K), Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India

2 Jamia Hamdard university, New Delhi, India

\*Address all correspondence to: beighab@gmail.com

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
